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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Summer is upon us, along with the many cookouts, beach trips, outdoor concerts, picnics and other food eating events that go along with it. :) One of my favorite summer fun foods is a yummy pasta salad. It just screams summer and goes great with just about anything! That's why I was eager to take part in Betty Crocker's #SuddenlySaladSummer campaign and host a $20 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway. Woo hoo!

In fact, just this past weekend, the whole family went to an outdoor concert where we listened to the music of David Bowie accompanied by the NC Symphony with good friends. I spent the morning and early afternoon on a family bike ride/lunch which was a great time, but by the time I got home, very little time was left for concert food prepping. DOH!

Lucky for me, I just happened to have some Betty Crocker Suddenly Pasta Salads on hand to save the day. I had picked up a few varieties from my local Publix and opted for the Ranch and Bacon variety. Get some money saving coupons from Publix here.

I only wish that someone would have reminded me to actually take it with us to the concert that night! Oh well. You can't win 'em all. Here's the meal we were *supposed* to have enjoyed that night: wraps and pasta salad. Instead our wraps were lonely. haha.

Betty Crocker's Suddenly Pasta Salads really do go great with just about anything. Here's our dinner from the other night... perfectly seasoned and cooked/grilled brats care of the hubby with corn on the cob, fresh green beans, steamed and some Suddenly Pasta Salad Bacon Ranch. Big Sis wasn't quite a fan of this variety but the rest of us liked it just fine. Little Sis and I did the most eating of it. lol.

Tonight's dinner was pulled rotisserie chicken with some baked sweet potato, steamed broccoli and a Martin's potato roll. I thought the Classic variety would go really well with this dinner and thankfully, the family agreed. All four of us though it was really tasty and agreed it was our favorite so far.

I jazzed up my Suddenly Pasta Salad Classic by following the directions on the box and added 1/2 cup of sliced grape tomatoes, 1/4 cup shredded carrots and 1/4 shredded mozzarella to it. Delicious!

Pasta salads work great in lunches, too! Here's a leftover wrap and pasta salad for lunch the next day:

And a hot dog lunch the day after that:

And one last lunch, at home on the day after their last day of school (for a week)! lol.

2. Then leave me a blog post telling me which variety YOU'd buy and what you would serve your Suddenly Pasta Salad with. Don't forget to leave me an email where I can contact you should you be the lucky winner!

Good luck!!!

NOTE: You must be 18 years or older to enter. Winner will be chosen via random.org and will be contacted via email upon giveaway completion so be sure to leave your email addresses! :) Giveaway ends Tuesday, July 12, 2016 at midnight EST.

And the winner is....

Thanks so much for stopping by and please feel free to make my day by leaving me a comment, joining my blog in the top right corner, following My Epicurean Adventures on Facebook or on Instagram - the more the merrier! :)

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Several years ago, the hubby and I went on the South Beach Diet to lose a few pounds and came out of it with some delicious new recipes and almost 10 lbs lighter each! This chili was a staple and one of our faves. It was easy to make, I could make a BUNCH of it at once to last us a week and it was filling and delicious. I still make it often today, though I've changed it over the years, adding stuff I liked (meat & jalapenos!) and taking stuff out I didn't (celery!) and adjusting spices, the beans and tomatoes. So I think it's safe to say I've pretty much made it my own. :)

Chili, Simple and Delicious
adapted from The South Beach Diet's Chock Full of Veggies Chili
by happyvballgirl @ My Epicurean Adventures
http://www.myepicureanadventures.com/2016/06/chili-simple-and-delicious.html

Add beans and tomatoes with their juices. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until chili is fragrant and slightly thickened, 25 to 30 minutes.

Serve warm.

Makes about 4 (2 cup) servings.

Just made a batch over the weekend and enjoyed a bowl of it with Little Sis when Big Sis and the hubby were away at our nephew's graduation. She enjoyed hers topped with shredded cheese and a splash of hot sauce with a plate of plain pasta with butter and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, a very fine combo indeed! I enjoyed mine with cheese and a dollop of Greek yogurt (it's the perfect substitute for sour cream!) AND hot sauce. We enjoyed ate it outside, to boot! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and please feel free to make my day by leaving me a comment, joining my blog in the top right corner or liking my on Facebook at MyEpicureanAdventures - the more the merrier! :)

Christine, aka happyvballgirl :)

Here are some affiliate links to the products I love and use on a daily basis. Well, I don't use ALL of them everyday but I do use at least 3 every day... you know what I mean! :) Feel free to ask me about any of 'em! Any purchases made through these links earns me a little extra cash to support my bento habit, which my hubby would really appreciate. haha! So thank you!!! if you choose to use any of 'em! :)

Monday, June 6, 2016

I don't know if you've heard, but General Mills' Cheerios, Chex and Lucky Charms cereals are gluten-free! What?!? I, myself, had no idea, so I jumped at the chance to participate in this campaign to help spread the word via granola bars. :)

I stopped by my local Publix to pick up a couple boxes of my girls' favorite cereals to see for myself.
There they are in the cereal aisle - imagine that! What I didn't realize until this campaign is that the General Mills gluten-free family has been growing. They recently added Chocolate Cheerios and Lucky Charms to their already gluten-free Cheerios and Chex family so there are even more delicious options for those of you who avoid it. Check out their full offering here.

Using this COUPON (save $1 when you buy 2 select General Mills Cereals) and the in-store buy one get one specials, I got QUITE a deal on 2 large boxes of my girls' favorite cereals: Cheerios and Lucky Charms. As babies, they started out with Cheerios and still enjoy them to this day. And Lucky Charms, they fell in love with the second that marshmallow bit touched their tongues. haha.

Lucky Charms are thoroughly enjoyed for the occasional breakfast with (not IN) a glass of milk...

or as a snack/treat in their lunches or even an after dinner snack.

Now Cheerios... a tried and true cereal, one they started out gumming when they were mere little babes and still enjoy to this day. Cheerios can be eaten where ever and when ever whether it be for breakfast IN milk, as a snack on the couch (they're a much welcomed low-crumb generating snack, unless the whole bowl gets tipped over which does happen on occasion, but the clean up is super easy) while watching tv, in the toy room while playing with friends, for breakfast, for dinner, for a light meal in summer when you just don't feel like cooking, when you're recovering from a bug, when ever!

I even got a little fancy and made some homemade granola bars with them. They add the PERFECT crunch to these chewy granola bars packed in this lunch.

Homemade granola bars with cheerios you ask? They're delicious, they're nut-free for my nut allergic girls and they can be made gluten-free as well. My girls love them, especially Little Sis, which is a big win because though she loves food, she's never been crazy about my other homemade granola bars. Adding Cheerios to the mix was the difference!

If you noticed that my pan is missing a row, that's because I was doing a "little" taste testing. What started out a little bite turned into much more. That just means I found it irresistable as well. :)

2. Then leave me a blog post telling me which variety of gluten-free cereal you'd like to buy! Don't forget to leave me an email where I can contact you should you be the lucky winner!

Good luck!!!

NOTE: You must be 18 years or older to enter and have a PayPal account. For US & Canada mailing addresses only. Winner will be chosen via random.org and will be contacted via email upon giveaway completion so be sure to leave your email addresses! :) Giveaway ends Thursday, June 30, 2016 at midnight EST.

Thanks so much for stopping by and please feel free to make my day by leaving me a comment, joining my blog in the top right corner or liking my on Facebook at MyEpicureanAdventures - the more the merrier! :)

Saturday, June 4, 2016

My volleyball buddy, Glen and I love to cook. We consider ourselves the chefs of the family. ;) Because we share this love, he's also one of my guinea pigs. When I was working on my butter chicken recipe, I found out that he coincidentally was, too, and thus became each other's taste tester. When I dropped off a sample of what I though was IT, I knew I had finally done it when he asked me for the recipe. When I "healthify" a treat recipe by sneaking in some whole wheat flour and/or flax seed and wheat germ, I can tell if the new version's a keeper if Glen will eat more than one of them. ;)

Last weekend, Glen and his crew had me and my crew over for dinner. He made his mom Donna's Chicken Lasagna, a tried and true family favorite. Well, let it be known that it has now become a Taylor family favorite, too, because not only did we devour our first plates, we went back for seconds.

Lucky for us, Glen made a double batch of an already giant dish and ended up having plenty of leftovers... plenty enough to share. Yeah! The next day, Big Sis of all people (she's my eat-like-a-bird pickier sweetie), came home from school literally DEMANDING some of Mr. Glen's (mom's to be exact) chicken lasagna. As she was scarfing hers down (a seriously beautiful sight), Little Sis came home from school, saw what Big Sis was eating and then jumped up and down in sheer excitement yelling "I NEEEEEED some, too!!" Can you tell this girl seriously loves her pasta? She loved this dish so much, she upgraded Mr. Glen to "Uncle Glen". haha.

So, without further ado, here's that awesome recipe that Glen and his mom so kindly and generously shared with us. Thanks guys!

A photo posted by Christine Yoon-Taylor (@myepicureanadventures) on May 31, 2016 at 1:35pm PDT

Thanks so much for stopping by and please feel free to make my day by leaving me a comment, joining my blog in the top right corner or liking my on Facebook at MyEpicureanAdventures - the more the merrier! :)

Christine, aka happyvballgirl :)

Here are some affiliate links to the products I love and use on a daily basis. Well, I don't use ALL of them everyday but I do use at least 3 every day... you know what I mean! :) Feel free to ask me about any of 'em! Any purchases made through these links earns me a little extra cash to support my bento habit, which my hubby would really appreciate. haha! So thank you!!! if you choose to use any of 'em! :)